Obviously, the repairs done after the 2017 flooding were not enough as, once again, protective levees broke and flood-control pumps were overwhelmed.

If there was ever evidence that officials need to take a close look at the integrity and effectiveness of the network of public and private levees that are supposed to protect Highway 37, the 2017 flood should have been enough.

It wasn’t.

It’s time that Caltrans and county officials come up with improvements that hold greater promise in protecting the busy highway and keeping it open.

Highway 37 should be a priority, not only for the growing level of traffic it handles, but the kind of traffic. It is an important North Bay commercial route. It should be a Caltrans priority.

In 2017, we were told by state officials the flooding was caused by a combination of problems — the roadbed, stretched across a bay mud foundation, has sunk and protective levees had failed.

This year, it’s the same story, only it was the levees on the east side that failed.

There are plans in the works to overhaul Highway 37, widening it to four lanes and raising it, possibly as an elevated causeway.

That’s an ambitious project that would take years to design, clear environmental hurdles and finance.

The question is, what happens to Highway 37 right now? Flooding of the highway — which forced closure for nearly a week this time — is today’s problem, not tomorrow’s.

This is a question that our local officials, the Transportation Authority of Marin, the Marin Board of Supervisors, the Novato flood control board and the Novato City Council should be raising. It is a nuts-and-bolts matter that should also be on the agendas of Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Fixing Highway 37 can’t wait for the grand design.

Both state and county officials need to present a public report on what has gone wrong and what repairs are possible, including raising the roadbed, to improve the odds for keeping Highway 37 open after a heavy storm.

Obviously, the preventative work promised in 2017 was not enough.

Now is the time for a strong foundation for improvements that can endure strong storms and help keep this important stretch of highway open so it can do the job it was designed to do.

Until that work is done, Highway 37 will be a sitting duck for long-term closures. When improvements can be made to prevent this hazard, the state should make them a top priority.